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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23076823">Scattered Ash, Stained Red</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/'>Anonymous</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Pocket Monsters: Red &amp; Green &amp; Blue &amp; Yellow | Pokemon Red Green Blue Yellow Versions, Pokemon: Indigo League | Season 1 - Pokemon (Anime)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Dark, Alternate Universe - Fusion, Dimension Travel, Gen, Pokemon Battles, Pokemon Training, Speech Disorders, Worldbuilding, it's a dangerous world of mutant animals with superpowers</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-03-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-03-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 10:13:51</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>4,928</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23076823</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>When Ash woke up, it was early and it was dark. </p><p>He was ten years old.</p><blockquote>
  <p>How Ash Ketchum became Pokémon Trainer Red.</p>
</blockquote>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Satoshi | Ash Ketchum &amp; Everyone, Satoshi | Ash Ketchum &amp; Satoshi's Pikachu | Ash Ketchum's Pikachu</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>110</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Anonymous</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Scattered Ash, Stained Red</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“PIKA!”</p><p>“Pikachuuuu!” Breathe in, breathe out. “It’s okay. It’ll be okay. We’ll be okay.”</p><p>“Pikapi…”</p><p>“…W-We always manage to get out of these situations, don’t we?”</p><p>“....<em>Pi</em>..."</p><p>“…”</p><p>“…” Sniff.</p><p>“…I-If we don’t though, I just wanna say I’ll never forget you. …N-No matter what, n-no matter when, no matter <em>where</em>.”</p><p>“Pi-Pikapi—!”</p><p>“No — just listen! If — and this is just an if, cause I’m sure we’ll be alright in the end — I just wanna say if worse comes to worse, I’ll find you. We'lI survive this, in some way or form, and we'll find each other again.”</p><p>“…Pika. Pikapi, pi kachu,<em> pipika!”</em></p><p>“Hey, no, I’ll believe it because no stupid legendary will ever set us apart—“</p><p><em>"Ka."</em> Sniff.</p><p>“…Yeah. I know it too, buddy.”</p><p>"..." Huff.</p><p>"..."</p><p>“…Pi?” Sniff.</p><p>"..."</p><p>“…!” Sniff. Sniff. Sniff. “P-Pikapi?”</p><p>“…”</p><p>“PIKAPI?”</p><p>“…”</p><p>“…<em>pikapi!</em>…”</p><p>“…”</p><p>“…z<em>pi…kka…puuuii!</em>…”</p>
<hr/><p>When Ash woke up, it was early and it was dark.</p><p>Something was wrong. Off.</p><p>This wasn’t his bed. It was too hard, an unforgiving spread on his back. Ash sat up on the bed, pushing away strange white sheets lined with green.</p><p>The bedroom was spacious, unlike his cozy one back in Pallet Town. But this room was rather bare, without any posters covering the blue walls or scattered manga or toys littering the wooden floor — there was only the bed, a green bookcase, a wooden drawer, a potted plant and an old boxy computer on a bare desk.</p><p>He stood up and walked to the centre of the bedroom, where an old TV box and archaic gaming device sat on top of a soft green carpet. From his new vantage point, Ash could now see that they were well maintained for such old devices, but had still seen plenty of gaming.</p><p>Ash walked over towards the computer in the corner of the room though, and found it was an old PC, one of the first generation ones that could only store away items into subspace. Huh, but there was a potion left in there, so he took it out from within the data. You never know when you may need a quick heal for your Pokémon.</p><p>Pokémon!</p><p>Where was Pikachu? Where was his bag for his Poké Balls?</p><p>Ash whirled over to the drawer and found some clothes that were sort of his style, but definitely not his. A black t-shirt and baggy jeans, a thick red and white vest with matching hat, and a pair of fingerless gloves. They were all in small size, fit for a kid or something—</p><p>Suddenly he noticed his own hand — which looked like a perfect fit for the gloves. Breath catching, he took off the pyjamas he wore and donned each piece of kid-sized clothing with growing alarm, as each fit him perfectly. As the unblemished skin, not a scar to be found, was uncovered and reclothed, his mind blanked. Barefoot, Ash ran over to the TV again, looking closer to scrutinize his reflection in the glass and—</p><p>Short, floppy hair sticking in all directions. Unwrinkled skin, cheeks still round with baby fat. He looked... No, he <em>was...</em></p><p>He was ten years old. </p><p>But— the small boy looking back in the mirror couldn’t <em>possibly</em> be him. What was going on?!</p><p>There were stairs at the corner of the room and he couldn’t run down them fast enough.</p><p>“Woah, there Red! All boys leave home someday, but no need to leave for Professor Oak’s before breakfast! I didn’t even realise you were up so early!”</p><p>
  <em>Mom?</em>
</p><p>He stared at the unfamiliar woman in this strange house in this strange body. He immediately thought it was his mom but... Was that Mom? What— when did she dye it black? Where was Mr. Mime?</p><p>“What is happening—?” Pain climbed up his throat and clogged the rest of his speech, as he suddenly remembered <em>laughter and screams and eyes in the mirror, unnaturally red...</em></p><p>“Pardon? Oh, sweetie,” the dark-haired woman walked closer, though she was blurry as his eyes went a bit watery. “It’s okay. It’ll be okay…”</p><p>But it wasn’t, it wasn’t okay.</p><p>“What—?” <em>Is going on?</em></p><p>“Are you having memory problems again? Sweetie, today is your tenth birthday. I agreed that you could head over to Professor Oak’s Labs for one of those 'Starter Pokémon.' I— I wish you didn’t decide to do this… You only just got back, it wasn't too long ago, and with your problems… well…”</p><p>Ash gaped.</p><p>“But you’ve always wanted to research Pokémon, and I don’t have enough money to pay for any tuition. I can barely support you these days… I’m so sorry, my son…”</p><p>Ash stood still as the woman came closer and wrapped him in a hug, and he hugged her back instinctively. She smelt different than Mom. Instead of spices and savoury cooking, she smelt of flowers and sweet candles. In the corner of his eye, he saw photo frames on the wall that were not of her opening a successful restaurant but a small clothing store? What…?</p><p>“You’re all dressed up from what I could make you… I’m sorry I can’t help you more, sweetie. This is the strongest material on the market, and here,” she walked over to the kitchen table and held out a pair of red runners, “are shoes that are built for the toughest terrain — light snow, heavy rain, smooth rocks, you name it. I couldn’t get the boots — they were too much over budget even with my store license… but these should be fine, right?”</p><p>“…Thanks,” Ash managed, choking.</p><p>The woman smiled, and though she was black-haired, she was exactly like Mom in that moment. Her eyes twinkled, her laugh lines crinkled, and Ash wondered how anyone could have taken advantage of her. He knew that having a child like him at nineteen would take its toll, but at twenty-nine, this woman looked much older… unless that was also different here?</p><p>“Right. Professor Oak next door will want you to be off soon. You better get going, Red. Perhaps after breakfast, though…”</p><p>“Red?” Ash asked, puzzlingly.</p><p>She smiled, bopping him on the nose. “I promised, didn’t I?” A dark cast entered her eyes. “Well. It'll be like when you were a child, red and blue," she laughs, though Ash doesn't understand the joke. Again, he tries to speak, but now words claw at his throat, making him wince, and he barely hears her continue, "—stubborn boy, once you regain your voice, I will, no matter what you think of it, call you Satoshi!”</p><p>Ash paused and nodded helplessly. <em>Satoshi</em>. Huh. He hadn't heard that since... forever. 'Ash,' was a name chosen randomly from the list of example words in Unovan. It hadn’t really mattered back home as he was used to being called Satoshi, but at Masara Elementary, there was a sudden, radical change over the years after the island continent had opened its borders - Kanto, Johto, and all the rest. Ash didn’t really remember, since he was pretty young, but apparently it was easier for everyone to speak one universal language? Well, for some reason or another, everyone had to update their documents to include new names for themselves in Unovan, and children all learnt Unovan along with Kantonese, referring to themselves with their new names. Masara was as much Pallet, as Satoshi was the same as Ash, in his mind, so it didn’t really matter.</p><p>Or, well, Satoshi was the same as <em>Red</em>, in this case…</p><p>What kind of name was Red? Ash laughed to himself, hysterically. It was as unfortunate as Gary's middle name <em>Green</em>. And the only reason he'd been named Green was because it was his mother's maiden name. Ash could never forget because there was a girl in primary school, Leaf Green, that Gary accused of stealing his name. There’d been a huge fight, names were called, and Ash distinctly recalled the chalkboard eraser getting thrown in a cloud of white.</p><p>Really, was it any wonder that the self-absorbed duo were actually first cousins <em>and didn't know?</em></p><p>Shaking from those straying thoughts, he paused.</p><p>What happened to him? Why was he ten years old again? <em>And why was the world so wrong?</em></p><p>He couldn't voice it however, to this kind, fragile-looking woman.</p><p>Especially if this was his mom.</p><p>As he said his farewells after breakfast, after running back upstairs to stuff a potion into the large yellow backpack that had supplies already stocked up in, he was about to leave to perhaps ask Professor Oak what was going on…</p><p>“Be careful, Red. Pokémon are such a mysterious species still, and… people <em>die</em> everyday from attacks. I’ve heard on the news of this butterfly creature that powdered people to sleep, never to awaken again as predator Pokémon came in and ate them. Beedrill stings kill without an antidote within the first few hours— but you’ve studied all this already. I know. I know, but let a mother worry, alright? I’ve heard new trainers have such a lower survival rate… Please send mail every other week… please, just to let me know you’re alright.”</p><p>Ash didn’t say anything as he reeled from the warnings.</p><p>Pokémon, mysterious? <em>Dying?</em></p><p>What?</p><p>"And as we promised, if it's too hard, there's no shame in turning back home. Alright?" She pecked him on the cheek, straightened his hat and waved him off.</p><p>As he stepped out of house, he knew he had to take a look for himself before going to Oak.</p><p>He ran down the streets and lanes of Pallet, passing Gary’s place, the Research Labs, and finally old man Ishihara’s. Route 1’s oddly new sign pointed towards a trail between trees, but ignoring that, he noticed that wild grass was growing along the path, tall enough that it reached his knees. It hadn’t been paved over or trodden down at all. Stepping into it, almost disbelieving of it — was it an illusion? — he almost didn’t hear someone shouting behind him.</p><p>“Hey! Wait! Don’t go out!”</p><p>Ash hesitated as he heard footsteps behind him and turned around, knee deep in the wild grass.</p><p>Huff. Huff, puff. “Th-That was close!” the Pokémon Professor paused before a look of anger seemed to erupt on his face. “Are you absolutely out of your <em>fucking</em> mind, Red?”</p><p>Ash blinked at the enraged Prof. Oak, shocked at the expletive. It was just - <em>so weird </em>hearing him swear. Like —<em>what?</em></p><p>“Wild Pokemon live in tall grass—“</p><p>An animalistic cry let out something similar to, “Puiiikaachuiii!”</p><p>Suddenly a pikachu — no, not a pikachu, it was <em>Pikachu!</em> He could recognize the guy anywhere, even if he was rather… plump, compared to the last time Ash had seen him… But before Ash could do or say anything, Prof. Oak had taken out a Poké Ball and thrown it and caught the Electric Mouse Pokémon. The capsule shook, wobbling every few seconds, and Ash’s breath caught as the red dot cleared to white, letting out a soft ding and sparks. Somehow, Pikachu wasn’t able to break out easily like the day they met… or jump out, after a few seconds, after being captured.</p><p>“Whew…” Prof. Oak sighed, suddenly looking tired. He was still scanning the grasses around them though, as if another Pokémon would jump out at them for no obvious reason. “A Pokémon can appear anytime in tall grass, kid. You’re lucky I saw you running past Ishihara-san’s or you could have died. Why are you looking at me so strangely? We’re not a city, we don’t have the kind of protection a gym can provide! Pallet Town only has me and the guards I hire. You need your own Pokemon for protection if you ever leave the safety of this town.” A thunderous look overtook his once exhausted face. “Where are the guards? Fuck, if we don’t someone watch the route all the time, kids like you will just run willy-nilly <em>everywhere.”</em></p><p>Before Ash could say something — in his defence, in questioning about Pikachu, in questioning this weird Prof. Oak or in anything really — the old man threw out another ball, a strange greyish-white one he had to rotate a knob over a few times before throwing it out to reveal an enormous arcanine. It easily towered any arcanine Ash had ever seen, a <em>head</em> taller than normal, and that wicked scars across the snout and body made it look all the more fierce.</p><p>“Prevent any Pokémon from coming in, and keep anyone from going out, unless they’ve got a signed Trainer license.”</p><p>The battle-scarred arcanine nodded and sat on his haunches.</p><p>Prof. Oak turned to Ash. “And you! Does your mother know you’re just walking out — yes? Oh hell, today’s your birthday isn’t it? You’re of age?” Ash nodded, remembering what his mother said, and Prof. Oak sighed. “Fine. I’ve still got a Pokémon in the lab to give out, here, come with me!”</p><p>He stalked off towards the lab. Ash had no choice but to quickly follow, still reeling with everything happening today. Prof. Oak, like his Mom here, was just a bit <em>off.</em> Like how Mom was just a bit more stressed and worried, Prof. Oak was grumpier and way more stern.</p><p>The places, the people — if this wasn’t a lucid dream, then Ash knew that the strange legendary must have sent him into another universe or back in time... or perhaps both, from what he could tell.</p><p>Ash wasn’t stupid. He knew saying anything now would just make others think him a lunatic. It was a good thing the first person he saw here was his Mom, otherwise too nosy Gary or too perceptive Prof. Oak would have noticed something off and Ash would have explained his circumstances and been sent off to an asylum or something.</p><p>When they reached the lab, Ash noticed a familiar figure in black and purple, and spiked brown hair, in the lobby area.</p><p>“Gramps! I’m fed up with waiting!”</p><p>Prof. Oak paused as he noticed Gary too. “Blue? What are you doing here?”</p><p>
  <em>Blue?</em>
</p><p>“Gramps, you told me to come!”</p><p>“I meant to come by later,” Prof. Oak sighed. “Ah, whatever, it’s fine. Just wait there while I finish with Red.” Walking down the hallway over towards the last room with a desk near the back, passing his aides and researching assistants just coming out of it, he opened a drawer and took out a capsule. Smoke filtered out, and an array of Poké Balls were revealed.</p><p>“Here we are, Red. This red-and-white Poké Ball is the newest invention, able to capture a Pokémon of any size into a small pocket dimension. After activating once and lobbying it at a Pokémon, they have a small chance of catching wild Pokémon, as you saw when we were on Route 1. But if the Poké Ball fails to capture a Pokémon the first time, the Poké Ball will break. Still, it <em>is</em> the safest way to research and train Pokémon these days, as the old apricorn capsules are too faulty and don’t always keep a Pokémon in and can malfunction when returning it, leading to… awkward situations.”</p><p>“Awkward <em>fatalities</em>,” Ash heard a passerby aide carrying a box of glass containers mutter under his breath.</p><p>Prof. Oak ignored or didn't hear the guy, who had disappeared down the hallway. "I don’t have any Starters with me at the moment, however.”</p><p>“Starters?” queried Blue.</p><p>“Pokémon bred in the lab or donated by the League. They’re based on older monsters from the wild that were fierce and too dangerous in their element. I and other League-hired professors found a way to devolve them into the perfect baseline Pokémon for young trainers. They imprint in the new devolution, making them dependent to their human, and they can later evolve back into their old forms with their loyalty firmly established. Any offspring they have will also hatch into these baseline stages, or, as we’re now calling them: Starter Pokémon.”</p><p>Prof. Oak handed three empty Poké Balls to Blue and then three more to Ash, as he explained whilst putting away the container.</p><p>“Starters are specific to certain Professors, as we all worked on different types. I myself worked with Professor Rowan on water types, as you know, Blue. I won’t go into the details, but we later all decided to share our findings and exchanged Pokémon to be able to provide prospective Trainers three choices: a grass-type, a water-type, or a fire-type, as these are the most beneficial types to survive in the wilderness.</p><p>"However, I do not have any more Starters with me, right now. They take a long time to be bred, and I haven’t managed to find the time to monitor more incubations after my most recent batch. Our first generation of Starters were sent to the League, and three League-sponsored trainers had dropped by last week for my latest trio.</p><p>"Red,” he turned towards Ash. “I do have this eevee, given to me by a colleague of mine for research. I’ve already analyzed it’s Adaptability ability and I have enough genetic samples. He’s mild-tempered, a rather calm Pokémon actually, and the perfect replacement Starter. Though weak, he’s a fairly fast Pokémon for his species, and he’ll only grow stronger. From my observations, findings indicate that eevee are able to evolve into nearly any possible type, if need be. We know with the touch of certain stones or rocks, it can turn into the three types: fire, water and electric. But from the DNA analysis, there are probably more ways for it to evolve, from emotional bonds or sunlight exposure or even—“</p><p>“Hey! Gramps, what about me?”</p><p>“Oh, be patient, Blue.” Prof. Oak chided. “You were so excited about getting a charmander, so I’ll be giving you one sometime in the coming weeks.”</p><p>Holding out the Poké Ball with an eevee inside, Ash gingerly took the shiny red capsule. Wasn’t this eevee supposed to be Gary’s though? Or Blue, in this case.</p><p>Ash didn’t understand — what would happen to eevee if he didn’t form that unbreakable bond with his rival, evolving into the Moonlight Pokémon n the dark caves of Mt. Moon? Would Prof. Oak never learn about—</p><p>“No way!” Suddenly a hand snatched the Poké Ball from Ash’s hands. “Red, I want this Pokémon!”</p><p>“Blue! What are you doing?”</p><p>Blue rolled his eyes, mouthing <em>‘obviously.’</em> “Gramps, I want this one!”</p><p>As the two Oaks suddenly began bickering back and forth, Ash couldn’t help but imagine the real ten-year-old Red in his place. If he had been just a kid, he’d have burst into tears, honestly. What was wrong this version of Gary? This guy was the grandson of the Pokémon Professor — if he didn’t get one now, he could’ve just asked the professor to go catch one for him later! Ash didn’t have anyone to do that for him! Blue was such a jerk, just taking the first Pokémon from a friend—</p><p>Wait.</p><p>Were he and Blue even friends…?</p><p>“But, I… Oh, all right then.” Professor Oak seemed to have given up as Blue stood back with a too smug grin on his spoilt little face. “That Pokémon is yours.”</p><p>Ash rolled his eyes as Prof. Oak began to justify himself to ‘Red,’ and tried to make Blue apologize, but Prof. Oak obviously doted on his <em>real grandson </em>more.</p><p>“—and so, Red, here. This is the Pokemon I caught earlier, Pikachu, the Electric Mouse Pokémon. You can have it. I caught it in the wild, however, so I warn you that it’s not tamed.”</p><p>Unable to believe it, Ash cautiously took the Poké Ball with Pikachu inside.</p><p>“Now,” Professor took a seat at the desk and pulled out two familiar, archaic devices, before he looked up at him and Blue. “I have a job for you two. This is my invention, the Pokédex. It automatically records data of Pokémon you’ve caught, or seen as well as long as you scan it, like a high-tech encyclopedia. By using real-life scans of height, weight, strengths and weaknesses. I want you to find the three League trainers who came by last week and give these to them."</p><p>"I've got no time for that!" Blue retorted. "Give them to Red; my time is way more important. I need to train to beat the gyms, collect badges to fight the Elite, and then Sir Lance to become a Champion of the region! And then — Pokémon Master!"</p><p>"Now, now, Blue," Prof. Oak said. "Take one at least. I need them to be given to those Trainers, since they're League sponsored, and therefore, are training to be part of the Elite or Guard. I need them to have the devices in order to collect data from all over the region they're going to explore, as all prospective Elite or Guard need to collect all the gym badges of a region. They'll need them too, as the Pokédex helps you determine the capabilities of Pokémon you capture, as you won't need to waste time figuring out what Moves or Abilities a caught Pokémon has. Levels, moves, sex, types and other classifications will all be displayed."</p><p>A greedy look overtook Blue's face as he snatched the blue Pokédex. "I'll take this one!"</p><p>It was pretty obvious to Ash that Blue had no intention of giving the dex to anyone, as Blue quickly turned the device on to scan his newly acquired eevee.</p><p>"Here, Red." Prof. Oak handed him the green dex and turned on the red dex, ignoring the AI Dexter as he quickly opened a file. "On here will contain the profile of the two Trainers you'll be looking for. In fact, all registered Trainers are on here, but the ones with red dots beside them are registered and prospective dex holders— this is a recent invention of mine, so there should only be those three and the Elite in yellow and Champions in black —and Blue. Who just registered his dex." Prof. Oak sighed, "may as well just make another dex, then," he muttered in a tone Ash supposed he wasn't supposed to hear. Jeez, Prof. Oak needed to punt down Blue's bratty attitude, not learn to tolerate it!</p><p>“Also, I already pre-registered you and Blue to be new Trainers as of your birthday,” Prof. Oak continued. “Blue's been ready for a couple of months — just never got the chance to get him a Starter, as my old batches have all been pre-ordered by the League, and it's only my next ones, to be bred in another few weeks, that haven't been reserved for.” Prof. Oak sent his grandson a disappointed look for not having the patience to wait just a bit longer. He sighed, fishing two cards from his lab pockets. “Well… Here are your Trainer licenses."</p><p>Ash nodded, taking the electronic card handed to him after Blue grabbed his, and stored the dexes into his bag.</p><p>"Thanks," Ash said.</p><p>The Oaks seemed surprised for a second, but the Professor smiled slightly. What was up with them? Ash felt a pang of longing as this Prof. Oak suddenly looked so much like his own. Shaking his head from those thoughts, he decided that he needed to talk to Pikachu out of hearing range and figure out their predicament first. And what they should do to return home. Plus, Pikachu hated being inside a Poké Ball—</p><p>“Wait, Red! Let’s check out our Pokemon. C’mon, I’ll take you on, right now, right here—“</p><p>“Not here,” Professor Oak interrupted with a frown. “This is my office, Blue. If you’re going to battle, we’ll take this outside.”</p><p>Without further ado, Blue grabbed Ash’s arm and hauled out down the hallway in excitement, as Prof. Oak calmly followed behind them.</p><p>“Let’s begin! Come on out, Jet!”</p><p>“Jet?” Ash echoed, confused.</p><p>“Well, yeah, 'cause he's a fast eevee?” Blue rolled his eyes as his eevee was revealed in a flash of white. The eevee blinked large dark eyes up at his new trainer, before letting out a cry—</p><p>Of anger, confusion, resignation, in a high-pitched growl.</p><p>“Eewhuiiiiiii whuiiiii?” the little eevee cooed. <em>What’s going on?</em> Ash roughly translated.</p><p>Though… why did the Pokémon sound so— animalistic?</p><p>“Your name’s Jet now, and I am your master,” Blue said in a strange authoritative tone, and Ash felt a flare of… aura?</p><p>The brown-furred Pokemon nodded.</p><p>"Woah, these monsters can communicate?"</p><p>Ash looked up, shocked that Blue could ask such a thing.</p><p>"Yes, he can nod and shake his head and do a number of human idiosyncrasies, likely picked up from his time at the labs. Wild Pokémon you tame will also begin to understand human speech, but those that have a habitat closest to towns or cities will be quicker to understand than, say, feral ones from Mt. Moon,” explained Prof. Oak.</p><p>“Sweet,” Blue crouched down and patted the eevee. “You ready to battle, Jet?” The eevee cooed and nodded rapidly in response.</p><p>“Okay, now send out yours, Red!” Prof. Oak called out from the sidelines, as a referee Ash guessed.</p><p>Ash paused, before clicking the button on the Poké Ball to expand it and throw it out as Jet the Eevee gave out another cry of—</p><p>“Eewhuiiii!” Ash heard aloud. However, in his mind the growl sounded distinctly like an expletive. What—</p><p>“Piikakahiiiuu!?” the yellow-furred Pokemon cried out in anger, electricity sparking along its cheeks. Ash was shocked, as he suddenly realized he could understand. He could actually <em>translate</em>. The aforementioned cry from the pikachu didn’t translate as anything other than a string of curses… stuff that Ash’s mother would washed from his ears with <em>soap</em>.</p><p>“Pikachu?” asked Ash, hopefully, praying for something to have gone his way, please, he couldn’t have mistaken Pikachu for just <em>any</em> pikachu—</p><p>The yellow bunny-like mouse Pokemon paused, before glancing over his shoulder, locking gazes and…</p><p>“Pi-Pikaapuuiii?” Sa-Satoshi?</p><p>“Yes,” he breathed out, followed by holding out a hand to signal halting just before the pikachu jumped him, because their interactions were being watched. And he couldn’t — he couldn’t reveal himself here. He had to convey that to his friend, somehow. Staring into Pikachu’s eyes, he wondered how he can say, ‘This is not our world, buddy, and we have to battle against this not-Gary-who-is-named-Blue as if we just met—‘</p><p>Pikachu’s tail tilted, head cocked, and cheeks sparked once.</p><p>
  <em>Oh, got it.</em>
</p><p>Ash blinked, shocked, mind racing faster than a rapidash. He crouched down as if having a staring contest with the wild Pokemon. ‘You can understand me?’ he tried to think in coherent words.</p><p>Pikachu looked surprised and confirmed. And Ash <em>understood all that </em>just by the tilt of tail, the number of sparks, the power of the charge in his cheeks as Pikachu tilted his head side to side.</p><p>
  <em>Huh, well this is unexpected.</em>
</p><p>And over-layered that, Ash heard Pikachu’s surprisingly older voice chime in tune with the translated movements. Glancing over at their watchers for a moment, Ash turned back to Pikachu. ‘Okay, Pikachu. Then we’ll battle and—‘</p><p>“Puika puiii, Kaahchu,” My name is — Ash blinked rapidly as his mind translated the somewhat familiar greeting, a greeting he’s heard many times said to Pokémon caught during his journeys across many regions — <em>the first flash of the mighty storm; lightning leader, sighter, discoverer.</em></p><p>The pikachu smirked. 'How would you like to be called, Human, instead of Satoshi? Now that you understand me...'</p><p>Ash nodded, and stood up. "Go, Kachu!"</p><p>The pikachu smiled and, the little show-off, front-flipped onto the battle scene and barred his canines. <em>‘</em>Kachu<em>, huh? Well, close enough…’</em></p><p>"Okay, lets get—"</p><p>"Wait, I need to check—“ Ash began before choking off with the phantom sight of a red haze and a damp, concrete floor. What? Why — why now? He thought to himself as dark spots danced across his vision. He could speak perfectly fine just moments ago—</p><p>"Puiiika, chuuuipi?"</p><p>Shaking from where he stood, he closed his eyes and forced his attention away to Pika— no, Kachu, he reminded himself — and smiled wobbly. Kachu didn’t seem to believe him, but Ash quickly ignored him for Blue and Prof. Oak, gesturing at Pikachu while pulling out the red Pokédex from his bag.</p><p>“I need,” he gestured towards the device and then at Kachu, ignoring the taste of bile at the back of his throat, “for moves.”</p><p>Prof. Oak nodded, “Yes, go ahead and check the moveset for your pikachu. It’s unfair if Blue got to see exactly what his eevee knew and could do and you weren’t.”</p><p>Blue sneered. “Whatever, get on with it.”</p><p>Ash opened the red Pokédex and scanned Kachu with the red laser light.</p><p>"Pikachu, the Electric Mouse—" Ash skipped over the voice and clicked on, "add to party," which detailed how to add newly caught Pokémon to his registration code’s Active Party. Without further ado, he scanned the Poké Ball that once housed Kachu, and confirmed the addition. Scrolling over, he found what he needed, deleted ‘Pikachu’ to add a ‘nickname,’ and read over what was provided.</p>
<p></p><blockquote>
  <p>Name: Kachu</p>
  <p>Species: Pikachu, Electric Mouse Pokémon</p>
  <p>Gender: Male</p>
  <p>Type: Electric</p>
  <p>Ability: Static, unlocked — Hidden Ability: Lightning Rod</p>
  <p>Moves: Thundershock, Tail Whip, Growl, Play Nice, Iron Tail, …in progress</p>
  <p>Level: …in progress</p>
  <p>Side Notes: ________</p>
</blockquote><p>After that, he nodded to an impatient Blue, who had his arms crossed and was tapping his foot.</p><p>"Finally!” Blue exclaimed, huffing once. “Go, Jet!"</p><p>The eevee got up from his place lying on the ground and let out a battle cry.</p><p>Kachu's cheeks sparked as he responded with a growl of his own, and Ash quickly put away everything to the side.</p><p>He stood, fixed his hat to cover the oncoming morning sunlight, and…</p><p>
  <em>Use Thundershock!</em>
</p><p>“Sand-Attack!”</p><p>The battle began.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Why am I in the Pokemon fandom? (Side-eyes <em>Pokemon Masters</em>... specifically, the Pokéfest staring Sygna Suit Red.)</p><p>EDIT: Light formatting &amp; typos cleaned-up on 13 Friday March 2020.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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